The Failed Cartoon Cartoons

Johnny Bravo (season 1 and 4)
Mike, Lu & Og
Sheep in the Big City
Evil Con Carne
Whatever happened to Robot Jones

How do you regard these cartoons?

Johnny Bravo premiered alongside Cow and Chicken and Season 2 of Dexter's Lab, but was left behind while they propelled to stardom until it was retooled for season 2. Mike Lu & Og premiered alongside Courage the Cowardly Dog, but was quickly forgotten. Evil Con Carne began with Billy and Mandy but was quickly dropped from the show and its independent spinoff failed.

Johnny Bravo wasn't a failed Cartoon Cartoon

the others are just forgettable but not terrible, iirc. They're fucking diamonds compared to something like Uncle Grandpa.

It factually didn't do well when the big three premiered.

Once season 2 happened it really took off.

I'd call most of these forgettable,
Except Evil Con Carne, since it was a show tacked onto Grim Adventures and since Grim improved once seperated and Evil fellto nothing, all evidence shows that Evil Con Carne as a failure.

And Johnny Bravo was a success.

>Johnny Bravo (season 1 and 4)
The fact Johnny Bravo got 4 seasons at all is proof it wasn't a failed Cartoon Cartoon, and in fact is well remembered alongside the golden shows like PPG and Dexter's Lab.

>Mike, Lu & Og
The premise for this show was too tightly constrained, and the number of interesting plots you could do with the "marooned on a deserted island" concept were few and used up by the time it got canned.

>Sheep in the Big City
An anomaly even by cartoon standards, Sheep in the Big City's major crime was that it's humor was far, far, FAR too dry for its target audience. This is the kind of absurdist-meets-Mission Hill show that I could see adult swim making (with some obvious adult tweaks, of course).

>Evil Con Carne
Two major reasons why this failed: similar to Mike, Lu and Og, the premise for this show was a bit too constrained to generate interesting plots; and this show was sadly torn apart by its own partner by being just more interesting as a whole. To be honest, while I appreciate the retooling of General Skarr for The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, I think the entire Evil Con Carne cast would have been a great fit for the show.

>Whatever happened to Robot Jones
Aside from the obvious network meddling resulting in the most jarring casting change I've ever seen in a cartoon, I think this show failed because of the over-reliance on mean spirited humor. Characters disliking each other and making jokes at each other's expenses can be fine in moderation, but Robot Jones as a character was LOATHED by nearly everyone at his school, and this attitude would often even affect his so-called friends. I mean, even Johnny Bravo had people who liked him, the only characters who consistently treated Robot Jones with respect were his parents.

>network meddling

Not the network's idea. They ran into legal issues with the robot voice.

I loved Sheep.

I was one of those kids who stayed up watching early Cartoon Network late into the night until they'd switch to infomercials, so I caught a TON of Rocky and Bullwinkle reruns.

I think most people probably didn't get Sheep in the Big City though.

True, but at the same time the decision to use a kid voice had to come from somewhere, and I can't imagine the creators of the show (who very specifically used a robot voice instead of a kid voice from the get go) were responsible for the switch.

Just wild guessing on my part, but still.

Mike, Lu and Og is my "was I the only one who watched this" show. I used to watch it all the time on Boomerang.

>I was one of those kids who stayed up watching early Cartoon Network late into the night until they'd switch to infomercials
>not watching the infomercials too
You are like little baby.

>it really took off
So, then it wasn't a failed Cartoon Cartoon

I really need to watch Sheep in the Big City again.

>on Boomerang
Stop making me feel old.

I liked Mike Lu and Ogg

Isth is fan art?

But Johnny Bravo season 1 is not bad. I would consider 4 bad.

>Mike, Lu and Og is my "was I the only one who watched this" show.
I didn't even think people hated it when I was young.

Pretty sure it is. Faces are too clean compared to the lines below the waist.

The OP specifically said season 1 and 4.

You can't just parcel out Cartoon Cartoons into seasons and claim that they either passed or failed as Cartoon Cartoons based on each individual season, that's not how it works. If that were the case you'd say that Dexter's Lab was a Cartoon Cartoon until season 4, wherein it stopped being a Cartoon Cartoon until Ego Trip happened.

A successful Cartoon Cartoon are those that had multiple seasons and are generally remembered as such regardless of the quality of each season. Johnny Bravo had four seasons, so it was a successful Cartoon Cartoon. Mike, Lu and Og only had one season and is barely remembered, so it is not a successful Cartoon Cartoon.

I wonder how Johnny Bravo became so popular and relevant even. My dad always quotes Johnny Bravo, yet probably couldn't tell you a thing about any of the other successful shows of the era.

Unusual premise? No other cartoon about a dumb guy trying to get laid.